Lidar technology provides capabilities “essential for accurately locating the vehicle within its environment and planning its driving path,” noted a Frost & Sullivan white paper.

Levi Sumagaysay of The Mercury News wrote an article about the industry dialogue on lidar and autonomous vehicles, which was sparked by Tesla CEO Elon Musk questioning the technology’s role.

The article looks at lidar from a number of perspectives including cost, which gets cited as a gating factor to lidar sensor deployment.

The article notes the cost discussion “ignores the history of technological advances.”

It cites Karl Brauer, executive publisher of Kelley Blue Book as saying, “That sounds like a very 2019 argument. We’re nowhere near ubiquitous self-driving cars, which are five years to even 15 or 20 years away. I’m betting lidar will be pretty cheap by the time we get there.”

Added Velodyne Lidar President & CBDO Marta Hall:

“It’s just like the evolution of radar, which started out very expensive. Over the years, its cost has come down.”

Lidar is the core sensor technology for autonomous vehicles, delivering the range, resolution, and accuracy required by the most advanced autonomous vehicle programs in the world.

To read the entire article, please go to: https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/17/elon-musk-calls-lidar-stupid-but-most-self-driving-cars-use-it-whos-right/

For Velodyne Lidar products click HERE